Conventional high-heeled shoes are often uncomfortable and painful to wear while standing and walking. The position of the wearer's foot in the high-heeled shoe imposes a high load on the wearer's forefoot. High-heeled shoes also induce an unnatural walking style which may lead to various foot injuries.
Injuries resulting from wearing high-heeled shoes may include Morton's syndrome where a shortened first metatarsal results in excessive force on the metatarsal head of the second metatarsal; metatarsalgia where the metatarsals become irritated and inflamed due to an uneven weight distribution across the forefoot when it hits the ground; Hallux valgus where the big toe points toward the second toe, resulting in a protrusion at the metatarsal phalangeal joint of the first metatarsal; stress fractures which are small cracks in a bone, or a severe bruising within a bone, typically caused by overuse and repetitive activity; sesamoiditis where the sesamoids break or the tendons surrounding the sesamoids become irritated or inflamed, and neuromas due to nerve impingement.